Miriam Margolyes, an Australian and English actress of Jewish descent who played Pomona Sprout in Harry Potter, believes that Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza is a victory for Adolf Hitler.
“Hello. I’m Miriam Margolyes, and I wanted to say something in support of the Jewish Council of Australia,” the actress begins, in a video that the new Australian group posted on social media.
“I’m an Australian citizen. I’m 83, and I have never been so ashamed of Israel as I am at this moment,” she says. “To me, it seems as if Hitler has won. He’s changed us Jews from being compassionate and caring and ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ into this vicious, genocidal, nationalist nation, pursuing and killing women and children.”
“Of course I condemn the Hamas action. Of course I do. But what we are doing, Jewish people, over in Israel is shocking, embarrassing and wicked,” Margolyes adds. “And I cannot understand why all Jewish people, particularly members of synagogues, do not want immediately to stop what is going on.”
In “the name of humanity,” the actress calls “upon all Jews to shout, beg, scream for a ceasefire.”
The actress, after comparing Israel to Hitler, adds that “It is not antisemitic to have a different opinion on the war time actions now.”
Some 10 days after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack, Margolyes was one of about 2,000 (now more than 4,400) artists to sign an “Artists for Palestine” letter calling for a ceasefire and accusing Israel of “war crimes.” The letter did not mention Hamas or the terror attack to which Israel responded.
In the Jewish Council of Australia video, the actress says that calling on rabbis and communities to insist on a ceasefire is in “accordance with Jewish tradition.”
The Jewish Council of Australia launched on Feb. 6 “to fill a void in Australia of an independent expert Jewish body which can speak about antisemitism in Australia and which acknowledges the diversity of views within the Jewish community in regard to the State of Israel.”
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has represented Australian Jews for 80 years—since 1944. Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the ECAJ, said recently that “The world must call with clarity and unity for Hamas to lay down its arms and accept its defeat. Every day that passes without this will lead to more needless suffering and more misery.”